Réseau de transport de la Capitale

Early public transit in Quebec City

Before the bus, public transit was provided in the form of a tramway operated by the Quebec Railway, Light & Power Company. It was initially horse-drawn in 1863, and made electric in 1897. This network connected the upper and lower towns. It was extended in 1910 to Sillery via Boulevard Saint-Cyrille (later renamed Boulevard René-Lévesque) and Rue Sheppard, to Avenue Maguire. A new line was established in 1912 connecting the historic district of Beauport to the Kent House. The tramway began to be converted to buses in 1937, and this conversion was complete by 1948 with the closure of the line in Saint-Sauveur.

Modern period

The modern public transit system was born on November 23rd 1969 with the Loi de la Communauté urbaine de Québec. It took the name Commission de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Québec (CTCUQ). The CTCUQ improved transit in Quebec City in numerous ways: dedicated bus lanes on certain arterial roads in 1975, express routes in 1977, and the establishment of the Parc-O-Bus in 1980. In this period, it also acquired multiple private bus companies and standardized fares.

The organization underwent a major reorganization in 1992, and a recovery plan was implemented. Most notably, this plan put in place the Métrobus and Couche-tard services, more dedicated bus lanes, and network changes. The CTCUQ became the Société de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Québec (STCUQ) in 1994. Following the municipal reorganizations of Quebec in 2002, it briefly became the Societé de transport de Québec, and finally, the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC). The ridership of this network grew substantially in this period, reaching a ridership of 41.3 million in 2007. A system of electric minibuses known as Écolobus was added to the system in 2008, but later phased out in 2015. Additionally, the Opus card was implemented for fare payment on buses.

The RTC acquired 101 hybrid buses from 2012 to 2015. It has also implemented an intelligent transportation system implementing GPS tracking. A bus network computerization project known as RTC Nomade was implemented over 10 years that allows passengers to view live locations of buses online, on bus information screens, through bus audio announcements, and at stations.

2025 strike action

In 2025, the RTC was hit by multiple strikes as a result of the maintenance workers' contract expiring, resulting in over a week without service. A two-day strike happened on 22 and 23 May, followed by one during the Festival d'été de Québec in July. A third strike was planned to last during the weekend of 5 to 7 September,. but an agreement was reached on 5 September, so the strike was shortened, and service resumed on 6 September.

Operations

Métrobus

The RTC operates six high-frequency lines under the Métrobus brand: lines 800 through 804, and 807. Lines 800 and 801 run together from De Marly to Dorchester/de la Couronne. Line 801 continues on to Terminus du Zoo, while line 800 diverges to the Montmorency falls. Line 802, runs from Terminus Beauport to Station Belvédère. Then, line 803 runs from Terminus les Saules to Terminus Beauport, through Le Mesnil, Lebourgneuf and Charlesbourg. Line 804, links Sainte-Foy with Val-Bélair going through the Terminus les Saules and the Université Laval campus and then finally the 807 goes between De Marly and Place D'Youville by riding along the Chemin Sainte-Foy until it merges to Rue Saint-Jean. Service is every 5 minutes during peak times, every 10 minutes before and after then, and every 15 minutes during less-travelled times.

Other services

Parc-O-Bus: select parking lots to encourage use of public transit

STAC: Service de transport adapté de la Capitale: paratransit for the physically challenged

Taxibus:an on-call taxi service connecting passengers in remote areas to the nearest bus stop